1.9 supercharged fuel injected wasserboxer built by vw 1983

1303wasserbug · Post by **1303wasserbug** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:20 am

just found an old performance car magazine august 1984 and has a write up on a rear engined polo built by volkswagen r&d in 1982-83. engine is a 1.9 wasserboxer fitted with a supercharger (unknown) and digi-jet fuel injection. compression ratio of 8:1 156bhp at 5750rpm and 163lbs/ft torque at 4000rpm. also mentions that they had a 250bhp turbo test bed engine. kinda makes me look a lil silly only now straping a turbo to mine in 2007!

DORIGTT · Post by **DORIGTT** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:49 pm

SCAN IT!

POST IT!

What are you waiting for? Christmas is coming... HURRY!

Post by **Piledriver** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:30 pm

Lordy, if they had put those in Vanagons they would still be making them...

1303wasserbug · Post by **1303wasserbug** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:00 am

taken from performance car august 1984

DORIGTT · Post by **DORIGTT** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:14 pm

Thank you....

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:20 pm

thats freakin' sweet. i want one for my vanagon!

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 3:21 pm

thats freakin' sweet. i want one for my vanagon!

D Clymer · Post by **D Clymer** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 10:48 am

That is cool. I think VW had big plans for the Wasserboxer initially. I have an old VW&Porsche magazine from 1984 that describes a Mexican bug prototype with a 2 cylinder Wasserboxer in the tail with the radiator also mounted there. Unfortunately, no photos, just the mention of it within a bigger context.

Also, I have a Car magazine from 1983 that mentions that VW had plans to install the Wasserboxer in the Quantum/Passat range of cars. Word is, that's why Oettinger developed the 6 cylinder prototype for them that eventually became his own WBX 6. It was meant to be an engine for a top of the line Passat.

These are all fascinating possibilities for what really was a promising engine. It's just too bad they let it down with the headgasket design.

David

tencentlife · Post by **tencentlife** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 6:22 pm

I happen to believe that the fault isn't in the design; VW's mistake was offering the motor with a "lifetime coolant". That set the stage for the wbx getting the bad reputation that it's still stuck with. You don't hear of nearly so many leaky heads with engines that have been rebuilt and then get their coolant changed out periodically. I think GW is right, it really is more of a maintenance issue.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:48 pm

thats what I keep hearing about the wasserboxer, change the coolant every year. I guess I should get on that in the spring.

D Clymer · Post by **D Clymer** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 7:49 pm

When I pulled apart the stock 2.1 I removed from my van - the one with the lovely Cofap pistons that made about 80hp

, I found light head corrosion on both heads. It was minor compared to some heads I've seen, but these had 7 years and 74,000 miles on them and coolant changes at two years and then at three years.

Granted, this doesn't quite meet GoWesty's prescription of every two years, but it is close. The corrosion was quite minor and I have no doubt that engine would have stayed leak free for well over 100,000 miles. However, it wasn't zero corrosion like GoWesty claims, either.

I think the problem can be mitigated by frequent coolant changes, and obviously I believe these engines can be durable or I wouldn't be working with them, but I think VW should have done a standard closed deck design with a standard gasket. Just think what an engine that would have been. My main point was that an engine that has to rely on two year coolant changes to avoid expensive head damage probably wouldn't have been a good move for a mainstream Passat powerplant.

David

tencentlife · Post by **tencentlife** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:00 pm

Huh. The heads I pulled off the AVP longblock that I made into my blue 2.2, which were new AMC's 90k miles before, had zero corrosion, not a trace. That engine got it's coolant filled with Dexcool 5 years before and never got changed.

But you're darn right VW would not have sold many wbx's in any car if they had said they needed coolant flushes every two years, or four years for that matter. But that would have required them knowing the corrosion/leakage problem would occur. I think it took them by surprise. After all, they offered it with a lifetime coolant. But if they had stuck to convention and indicated flushes every 3 or 4 years, they would have had a lot fewer problems, anyway.

D Clymer · Post by **D Clymer** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:13 pm

Well that's good to hear. I'd like to think zero corrosion is a possibility. How well were the rubber gaskets sealed to the heads on your AVP engine? One thing I noticed with mine was that the sealant had largely squished out upon assembly and the corrosion paths all seemed to originate where there was no sealant and no blob of sealant on the inside of the water jacket to act as a dam. Were yours glued down uniformly?

Post by **Piledriver** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:25 pm

VW watercoolers (as well as many other vehicles with aluminum heads) had VERY similar issues.

Basically any car built after `95 or any car with aluminum heads should be running Dex-cool or equivalent...

GM et. al. went through a lot o R&D developing Dex-cool standard for coolant just to fight the exact same corrosion issues the WBX had.

tencentlife · Post by **tencentlife** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:33 pm

That's why I use it.

D, the AVP developed a head leak within weeks of being installed. Pulled that head, reinstalled it, and it leaked again. That's when I took a much closer look and realised it was leaking around the backside of the channel gasket. So I pulled both heads and used sealant on back and front. So the seal job ultimately was mine. I think there was a slight nick in the rightside water jacket, very small as I remember. From that point it went near six years 90k miles and I didn't flush the coolant.

I tend to put just enough sealant on that it does form a bead along the inner surface of the gasket where it sticks to the head,and I always seal both sides ever since.